Jets Buzz New Year's Rose Parade

Published 12:13 pm, Monday, April 25, 2016

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) _ The Marine Corps band playing the national anthem and an American flag so big it took 32 people to carry it kicked off Tuesday's annual Tournament of Roses Parade.

Hundreds of thousands of New Year's revelers camped on sidewalks and woke up early to view the parade that was retooled after Sept. 11 to inspire a nation shaken by terrorist attacks.

Mary Pat Haas traveled to Pasadena from her New York City home to watch her nephew drive the Eastman Kodak float.

"Wonderful," she said of the spectacle. "I'm glad they're all out here and the terrorists aren't keeping them home."

Parade-goers stood and cheered as three fighter jets buzzed overhead and then screamed in delight as a B-2 stealth bomber boomed down Colorado Boulevard at the start of the procession.

Attending the 113th Rose Parade seemed to become a patriotic duty for many who didn't let chilly weather and rain-dampened streets, nor unprecedented security, stop them from staking out spaces along the 51/2-mile route.

On the East Coast, some 12,000 people strutted along Philadelphia's Market Street in subfreezing cold for the 101st Mummers Parade. Some club members wore camouflage gear and sported a military look in observance of the terrorist attacks. The parade's theme: "Mummers 2002, United We Stand."

In Pasadena, police Cmdr. Mary Schander said this year's Rose Parade crowd appeared lighter than past years. She blamed the decrease on threatening weather rather than concerns about security.

Soon after Sept. 11, the parade's theme of "Good Times" took on a decidedly more patriotic bent, and float decorators labored until the last minute putting red, white and blue petals in place.

The parade's first float towered above the crowd. American Honda Motor Co.'s "Born in the USA" entry featured a 50-foot robot wearing a red, white and blue helmet and was made of machine parts developed by U.S. industry.

Among those invited to take part in the parade were New York City rescue workers, who rode on the city of Los Angeles float.

Nostalgia also permeated the parade. Classic cars were parked on the city of Glendale float around a burger stand where a girl in a pink poodle skirt danced to Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock."

A female Elvis and a vegetable Howdy Doody led the Boeing Co. float that served as a decade-by-decade look at pop culture. The current decade was represented by a bald eagle popping from a gift box.

For the first time, police asked campers in recreation vehicles to keep an eye out for suspicious activity as part of a "Parade Watch" program. Access to the main grandstand area was restricted and spectators were discouraged from bringing backpacks, coolers and large bags.